


The One With the Harness

by MoragMacPherson



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 08:10:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16869316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoragMacPherson/pseuds/MoragMacPherson
Summary: Luke sucks at flirting.





	The One With the Harness

**Author's Note:**

> Heh: so this wasn't a sequel to the grumpy mechanic AU story, but predated it by several weeks: March 7, 2017 to be prec. For attackedastoria‘s prompt: “ ‘You tried to reach across me but your face got really close to mine and now we’re just staring at each other’

Luke’s a terrible flirt. Not the same way that Han is, constantly throwing out lines and not-so-subtle gifts to be shot down by Leia time and time again: more terrible in that he’s never actually done it before and he has no clue how to go about it. So in the weeks after the flower crown incident, as it begins to dawn on Luke that he might want Bodhi to be his something-more-than-just-bunk-mate; that Bodhi’s face has a certain geometry to it both unlikely and beautiful that strikes Luke as somehow unfair; that Bodhi has clever hands, a cutting tongue, and a warm heart; that Luke might be spending just a little bit too much of his time thinking about Bodhi— he finds himself completely at a loss as to how to communicate his feelings to Bodhi.

Besides, they’re bunkmates, and if Bodhi doesn’t want to be something-more-than-bunkmates, things could get very awkward very quickly. Never mind that the mere thought of Bodhi not returning the feelings is enough to make Luke’s stomach turn circles and his fingers clench into fists at his sides; Luke destroyed the Death Star with a single torpedo, but he has no idea where to even start a figurative trench run on Bodhi’s heart. It’s all very humbling and infuriating and made worse by the fact that he doesn’t really have anyone to talk about it to: Rogue Squadron was right out— they’d find some way to humiliate Luke with the best intentions possible— as was Han, for similar reasons, and Leia might be sympathetic but she was also an actual leader of their Rebellion, at the same damn age as him and he didn’t even know how to flirt—really, he couldn’t be more pathetic, could he?

All other options failing him, Luke finds himself lurking. Frequently. Both from up close and a distance. Thus far, if anyone’s noticed they’ve all done him the good service of not saying a damn thing, which is pretty much the best-case scenario. Luke just wishes that Bodhi didn’t appear to be equally oblivious.

See, he knows Bodhi’s not oblivious, is actually rather in awe of how tuned in Bodhi tends to be with people. It might be a kind word to one of the mechanics he’s working with, or the way that the ever inscrutable Cassian Andor consults with Bodhi on a regular basis in hushed tones over data Luke strongly suspects Bodhi isn’t officially cleared to know, or even the time Bodhi actually wins the actual pants off of Wedge Antilles in a sabacc game late one night, as the rest of Rogue Squadron hoots and hollers. And Luke  _lives_  with this man, spends his nights over him, sometimes watching over him lately because he just can’t help himself, and he’s expected to believe that somehow Bodhi has missed all of this? It doesn’t make any sense, the whole situation is kriffing ridiculous, and yet…

“ _E chu ta!_ ”

Luke blinks at the curse, as does half the rest of the hangar. An upside-down Bodhi pulls his knuckles out of his mouth and waves to the onlookers. “Sorry, sorry,” he blurts out, actually blushing and Luke has to feel a little sorry for him, peeks out from where he’s been lurking by the far side of the X-Wing’s landing gear.

“You okay?” he asks.

Bodhi shifts about in his harness, craning his neck about in an effort to track Luke’s voice and when he finally does he pulls his goggles off. “Oh, yes, fine,” he says, sucking on the knuckles of his left hand again as he sways in the harness. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Wasn’t trying to be seen,” says Luke, grateful that everyone else’s attention appears to have gone back to their work, not that the hangar’s terribly crowded this late in the evening.

“Is it— meditation, shit, I’ve been trying to get this 4L4 back online for what feels like eight hours now, what the kriff Antilles has gone and done to it, I have no idea,” says Bodhi, slapping his other palm against the engine.

“No, no meditation tonight, remember Chirrut and Baze are off on mission I think,” says Luke.

“Oh. Right.” Bodhi gives Luke a look that Luke has no clue how to interpret, his mouth hidden behind the knuckles that he keeps sucking in a very distracting manner.

“Are you hurt?”

“Less hurt, more at the end of my rope and,” Bodhi points down at the ground with his goggles, “Now lacking my hydrospanner and kind of dangling here,” he says, sounding more embarrassed than he really ought to be.

Luke smiles and walks over to pick up the tool. “I’ve got you covered,” he says as he hands it over, resisting the urge to reach out and touch the strands of Bodhi’s hair hanging in right in front of him.

“Thank you,” says Bodhi, his voice quite a bit softer now.

Luke nods and looks up at the engine rather than look at Bodhi with all of the absolute smorgasbord of emotions he’s feeling written all over his face— Threepio would probably be able to figure it out right now— and that’s gotta be — Luke reaches up and over and points, “I’m sure you’re not the one who installed that coupling upside down, right?” he says.

“Oh,” says Bodhi. “Actually, yes, that’s mine. Blast.”

Luke grins and notices that his face is directly over Bodhi’s. “Oh,” he says, somehow completely incapable of shifting a single muscle to move out of place, now that he’s finally got himself here.

Bodhi stares back at him, eyes impossibly large, lashes impossibly long, and he huffs out a soft laugh, after which his tongue darts out as he licks his lips. Luke can’t help himself, he mirrors the gesture and Bodhi’s blushing again. Luke might just cry, because he can’t think or move and it feels like he ought to do  _something_.

Which is when Bodhi kisses him.

It’s incredibly brief and awkward and kriffing  _perfect_ , just a quick peck on Luke’s chapped lips. But once it’s done and Bodhi’s lips are quirking in a smile, Luke remembers how his body works again, he has hands he can use to support Bodhi’s head, help push him up in the harness so that he can kiss him properly with their heads both upright. Any remaining doubts in Luke’s mind get blown away when Bodhi bites at Luke’s lower lip when he finally pulls away.

“Well, that’s done properly,” says Bodhi, who then nearly whacks Luke in the head pulling out the offending coupling.

Luke can’t help but feel that there really ought to be more to it, preferably in private. Bodhi sounds like he just won a bet. “It is?” he hisses.

“Yes, sorry, with the engine and all I sort of ran out of all of my patience and you, well, you were there,” says Bodhi, pulling his goggles back on.

The urge to cry has once again reared its ugly head. “So it’s done, then?” he says, shoulders slumping.

Bodhi tilts his head at Luke, his lips pulling to one side. “Well, I have an engine to finish work on.”

“Right.”  
 **  
**“You’ll just have to wait up for me tonight.”


End file.
